Action Figure Review – DC Origins: Series 1: Nightwing

Whilst browsing around my local comic book shop today, I saw an action figure set I just had to have: a pair of Nightwing figures, featuring both the modern and original designs. What can I say? Disco Nightwing is just that awesome. So I eagerly made my purchase, and upon getting the set home an idea dawned on me: why not write a quick review of it for Major Spoilers?

DC Origins is a series of two-figure sets featuring both the modern and original designs of a character. A pretty cool idea, if you ask me, and also available at the moment are Catwoman, Batman and The Joker sets.

First Impressions

The colours on the box are nice and subdued – not incredibly eye-catching but not garish either – and there are also small pieces of art for each version of the character, as is appropriate. The cardboard backing juts out from the plastic casing at the bottom, but the casing is moulded so as to have two little leg-type supports so the box can stand upright on a shelf – although I find this slightly odd as it begs the question as to why the backing couldn’t just end where the casing does.

The casing itself is moulded so that the two figures are positioned at slight diagonals to each other, which I think looks rather good, and between the two figures is the ‘Collectible Character Card’ which is also included in this set and doesn’t look bad at all as part of the display. The cardboard backing also features faint printings of various old and modern comic book covers (Batman covers, for the most part), although as far as I can see there are more old than new. It’s something that definitely adds to the look, though, and overall this packaging looks great on display.

Out of the Box

One of my first impressions of the figures themselves was that they stand up very well – a plus for any action figure. I had to adjust the leg of the original-costume Nightwing a bit, but apart from that the figures always seemed in no danger of falling over and the modern Nightwing stood up with a minimum of fuss. The ‘Collectible Character Card’, though, is nothing more than a flimsy piece of cardboard with pictures of modern and original Nightwing on either side of it (the same pictures from the box) and is really nothing worth shouting about.. Worse still, it’s flimsy enough that it can easily bend when trying to get it out of the packaging.

The modern-design Nightwing figure looks great… from the waist up. At some point around the mid-section, though, the figure seems to loose most of its detail, and the legs look blocky and shapeless. His calves also looks bigger, or at least equal in size to, his thighs at points. However, as I have mentioned, the upper-half of the figure looks good, especially the face, which features well-crafted hair and a believable scowl on Dick’s face. Also included with this figure are Nightwing’s truncheons, which are a nice edition.

The original-design figure does much better on the overall-detail front, with both the bottom and top halves looking equally good. I also enjoy the smiling facial expression, which is a nice contrast to the modern-costume version. An oddity arises, though, in the fact that in the figure’s pose Dick Grayson is twisting at the torso. It looks quite unnatural and I don’t see why the figure couldn’t have been modeled as facing straight-on. I also thought I’d mention that, yes, these figures do conform to what Stephen has said before: despite the costumes being so tight as to clearly define the character’s muscles, neither the modern of original-design Nightwings have a package.

In terms of pose-ability these figures more-or-less follow the standard DC fare – the hands can rotate (on the original Nightwing only, though), as can the heads (although the original Nightwing is inhibited somewhat in this regard by his huge collar), and they can bend at the elbows, knees and waist. No problems here, apart from the fact that the elbows can be a bit stiff. Both figures are also painted well, although there are only about five colours maximum that need to be used on either figure, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing.

The ‘Collector’s Character Card’

The ‘legs’ on the bottom of the box

Conclusion

Overall, despite modern Nightwing’s bottom half, these figures quite simply look good – especially together. If you like your DC action figures, this is definitely something I’d recommend picking up, and I give the set three and a half stars out of five.

Rating:

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The Author

Scott Hunter

He spells 'colour' with a 'u' and has the Queen on his money, but Scott Hunter loves pop culture all the same. His first memories of comics are of going down to the local corner shop to buy issues of The Beano and watching the 90s X-Men and Spider-man cartoons. He only recently started reading and collecting comics regularly, but has plunged himself heart and soul into the hobby, bagging and boarding with the best of them. Outside of comics, he enjoys sci-fi (reading, writing and watching), good-bad horror films playing with a brass band. Favourite writers include John Wagner, Alan Moore, Mark Waid, Alan Grant and (in non-comics literature) Philip K. Dick and H.P. Lovecraft. Colin MacNeil, Carlos Ezquerra, Brian Bolland and Alex Ross rank among his favourite artists.

Do people feel cooler hating on 80’s designs? It’s classic and was great for the era. I still have a soft spot for the costume, and it looks great with modern artists, such as in the Batman Chronicles or Batman #682, #713, etc

It’s a common affectation to mock things that are tied too closely to a certain time period. People mocked hippie garb throughout the 80s, only to have it become part of the wardrobe on the 90s. Nightwing’s high collar, too, will come back around.

And if it doesn’t? You and I still know it was cool…

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